Archives
Welcome to the archives of Better Cities & Towns, a publication founded by Robert Steuteville as New Urban News in 1996. This archive holds two decades of the best news and analysis on compact, mixed-use growth and development, from 1996 to 2015.
Corporations are rediscovering the benefits of pedestrian-oriented environments.
Office parks, with gleaming glass buildings surounded by parking, are the workplace equivalent of the cookie-cutter subdivision. Although office parks still...
A recent editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune described Ted Mondale’s appointment by Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura to head the Metropolitan Council as “an inspired choice.” As a state senator, Mondale authored several pieces of legislation...
The Conservation Law Foundation recently issued City Routes,City Rights, an 80-page guidebook for urban grassroots activists, educators, and local policymakers concerned with improving transportation and environmental quality in urban areas. The...
Joseph Barnes, former town architect at Disney’s Celebration, was hired as vice president and general manager overseeing day-to-day operations at I’On, a 243-acre traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Barnes was...
The popular event featured case studies from production builders and presentations of practical techniques for new urbanist projects.
The main-stream development community poured into Chicago April 7 through 9 and showed its interest in learning...
The Richmond Better Housing Coalition opened the first phase of Winchester Greens, an 84-acre new urbanist development built for moderate income residents. The first 100 townhomes are renting for $475 to $620, according to T.K. Samanath of the...
Civano, a 1,145-acre traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Tuscon, Arizona, opened its first 15 homes on April 16, 1999, clustered around the first neighborhood center. The developer, Community of Civano LLC, will have offices and subsidize...
Correction In the March/April 99 issue, the table of Canadian new urbanist projects incorrectly listed the master planner for the Berczy project, which is Page & Steel, with planning assistance from Macaulay Shiomi Howson Ltd.
Suffolk, Virginia, planners developed an ordinance that uses “incentive zoning” to apply new urbanist planning and design principles, according to a recent editorial in The Virginian-Pilot. The city’s rapid growth and increasing residential land...
An innovative process was used by citizens in the town of Palmer, Alaska, to create a new urbanist town plan. A citizens group called Parks, Arts, Recreation, Culture and Sport (PARCS) raised money to fund a 10-day design charette with architecture...
A study comparing four traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs) in separate regions of the U.S. with nearby suburban housing presented further evidence that buyers are willing to pay an average of $20,000 more for homes in communities with new...
The National Town Builders Association offers information on existing and planned traditional neighborhood developments nationwide at its Web site, www.townbuild.com. The Web site includes images and plans for many of the projects.